


Might Have Beens: Another Winter Holiday

by Jenn_Calaelen



Category: Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Genre: Gen, Planning Adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 04:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenn_Calaelen/pseuds/Jenn_Calaelen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the term following the events of Secret Water the Amazons plot adventures for the following holiday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Might Have Beens: Another Winter Holiday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a_la_grecque](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_la_grecque/gifts).



Nancy bit the end of her pencil while sitting trying to draft a letter to John. The room was quiet, each student sitting quietly with their paper as required, light from the autumn sunshine. Peggy was sitting opposite her, after glancing around to check the mistress wasn't watching, Nancy pushed the note across to her.

 

_How do we write to the Swallows about plans, keeping it secret? Its too long for semaphore without being suspicious._

 

Peggy read the note.

 

_Pity we couldn't use the Eels code – the mistress might not notice that._

 

She pushed it back. Nancy read it, then doodled on her paper for a while, thinking. Then added the following to the note and passed it back.

 

_Sdrawkcaw tuoba tahw?_

 

Peggy stared at it for a moment, then wrote it down the other way round:

 

_What about backwards? _

 

_That would probably work!_

 

Nancy took the note back and added:

 

_Can you write the normal part of the letter for now._

 

She pushed it over to Peggy, who read it and nodded. Nancy turned back to her piece of paper and started scribbling quickly – wanting to get the letter finished in the allocated slot.

 

_Suggested plan: Continuing the Polar Exploration!_

 

_Kanchenjunga in the snow and ice_

_Traversing Alaska by sledge (High Topps – we can also check on the gold mine, apparently there has already been a lot of progress. Captain Flint, Timothy and Slater Bob have been working like anything on it.)_

_Exploring Siberia (Moors between the Amazon river and Swallowdale)_

_Skating on the tarns (it should freeze, although the lake is very unlikely to again)_

 

She stared at the list for a bit, trying to think of things. It was so hard to come up with plans for the winter – nothing was allowed: no sailing, no camping, no being out late!

 

_Possibly further work on the igloo._

_Learning to make and walk in snow shoes (having seen the Splatchers the Mastadon used this Summer we should be able to work something out)._

_Possibly exploring the Amazon valley – hire a pony or two to pull the sledge or carry baggage (not that we'd have much) _

_Its a pity that you'd have to be over at the Eskimo settlement at Holly Howe – otherwise we could spend the evenings on a new story for Titty or a a really good plan for the Summer._

_If the lake does freeze we might be able to experiment with an ice yacht (with the help of friendly natives)_

_We are writing to the Ds as well as it would be good to have them here as well._

_Reply in this way to keep our plans safe from unfriendly natives._

Looking at the list, she tore the sheet of paper off her pad and started again.

 

_Swallows, Amazons and Ds Polar Expedition: Year 2_

 

_Continuing the exploration from last Winter. Exploration of the areas we missed in the race for the Pole._

_Using a pack pony or pony pulled sleigh, exploring the high fells – Alaska (High Topps) including a visit to the gold fields (the mine has changed a lot since the summer – Captain Flint, Squashy Hat and Slater Bob have been working on it like anything!), Siberia (fells around Swallowdale), exploring the source of the Amazon (having chosen a suitable name for it)_

_And to finish: expedition up Kanchenjunga in the snow and ice._

 

_In between, skating, work on the Igloo and signalling._

 

_Experimenting with an ice yacht if the lake freezes (with help of friendly natives)_

 

_We're writing to the Ds to see if they can come as well._

 

_Reply this way to keep the plans secret from unfriendly natives. We need a better code system as well._

 

_Swallows and Amazons Forever!_

 

Nancy prodded Peggy and they exchanged letters to check.

 

 

 

_School_

_10 October 1932_

_Dear John,_

_ Greetings! We hope that you are well – we both are. We got back to school it time sadly, following the rush at the end of the last holidays. Term is as can be expected, although the mistresses seem to be surprised by the fact that we both improved in geometry over the summer!_

_I hope term is going well for you – and the others, we are writing to you only at the moment._

 

_School continues to be dull – prep, games, etc. We got marched into town last Saturday to watch some terribly boring film. One good thing about it though is that we are missing the Great Aunt's visit. She is there at the moment! Thankfully we are too far away for her to visit us here, or require us to come back to see her._

 

_Nancy is working on making a complete set of signalling flags for needlework class – the teacher is impressed that she seems to be being enthusiastic about something for once – she got a choice of what to do as a project and chose that, thinking that the flags would come in handy at some point. _

 

_As we got rushed back to school following last Summer there wasn't an opportunity to discuss plans for the Winter. We are hoping that you will be coming to Holly Howe for some of the holiday, as we are looking forward to seeing you again._

 

_[Insert code here] _

 

_(in pencil at the bottom of the page)_

_Have you heard from the Ds at all? Mother got a thank you letter from their parents at the end of the Summer and Dot included a note with it, but we haven't had anything since. _

 

_Write soon and tell us your news and if there is an answer about the holiday._

 

_Yours sincerely_

_Nancy and Peggy _

 

They each read over what the other had written. Peggy added a note to Nancy's

 

_Should we give them an update on the mine? What about calling the river the St Lawrence – remember Uncle Jim sending us a postcard of it._

 

Nancy amended her letter, then taking Peggy's piece of paper laboriously copied out the message in the code, while Peggy quickly wrote their required letter to their mother.

 

Nancy finished the letter with a couple of minutes to spare and passed it across for Peggy to sign, taking in return the other letter and adding a quick paragraph at the end and signing off there, before passing it back. They each just had time to finish the envelopes before their time was up and the mistress was coming round to inspect the letters.

 

She looked at their letters slightly, then said,

 

“Does your mother know that you are writing to a boy?”

 

“Yes, she knows.” Nancy replied quickly. “She likes us writing letters to our friends.”

 

The mistress paused for a moment,

 

“I'll believe you for now, but I'll check with her. Perhaps I should read the letter to check that it is appropriate.”

 

“Certainly, Miss Smythe.” Nancy said calmly, doing her best to hide her concern.

 

The mistress looked at her for a moment, then handed the letters back with a smile. She walked on to the next desk.

 

“That was close!” Peggy whispered.

 

“Yes, too close, but well done for not squeaking.”

 

 

The reply arrived about two weeks later, and was handed to Nancy at breakfast. She waved the letter at Peggy, who nodded. However, it was not until break that they were able to slip off to read it. The weather was grey and chilly, so most of their classmates had chosen to stay indoors. Nancy arrived first at their usual meeting point, sitting on the wall overlooking the vegetable garden. She glanced around, taking in the leaves falling from the trees lying on the ground around the plants. She smiled at that, thinking how much better it looked than earlier in the term when it was still tidy and flowering neatly.

 

Looking around she saw no one in sight, and so no immediate prospect of being disturbed. She pulled out the letter, and looked at it, waiting for Peggy to arrive before opening it.

 

“Sorry. Mrs Hall wanted to speak to me about my essay,” she said, as she arrived flopping onto the wall.

 

Nancy nodded as she opened the letter. She glanced at it then, read it out,

 

_Dear Nancy and Peggy,_

_ Greetings. I and the rest of my family are well. School goes on as normal. _

 

_I have written to Mother, but there is very little likelyhood of us coming north this Winter, with Father being back in the country, but unlikely to get much leave. I suspect that we will be staying at home for the holidays, with little prospect of adventuring._

 

_Titty has been writing to Dot and from what I hear being told more about her stories. From her, it seems unlikely that they would be coming North either, due to their parents intending to be in this country, but busy in London a lot._

_I have asked Mother if it might be possible for you to come down here for a week or two at the end of the holidays. However, I have yet to get an answer from her. There wouldn't be anything exciting, possibly a little sailing in the river – Father says that there is no reason to take the boats here out of the water for the winter, unless it seems likely to freeze._

 

_I liked your code, it seemed very efficient, certainly more so that trying to encode the whole message with semaphore. We could use a more elaborate code, but it would make it harder to read, as well as taking longer to write the letters. The plans sounded a lot of fun._

 

_I look forward to seeing you in the holidays, either Winter or Summer._

 

_Yours sincerely_

 

_John_

 

Nancy stopped reading and glanced up at Peggy, “Well, there go all our plans.”

 

“Going to visit them wouldn't be as fun, but better than it just being us for the whole of the holiday.”

 

“Yes, although staying with their Natives will mean being on good behaviour most of the time. Its a pity he didn't use the code to reply, but I suppose there wasn't really anything that the Natives shouldn't read.”

 

Nancy shoved the letter back into her pocket and stood up.

 

“We should be going back in, the bell's going to ring any minute.”

 

Peggy nodded and got up as well. As she was leaving, she remarked, “Well, maybe it'll work out for next year, our plan is too good to waste.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a treat from Yuletide. Betaed for characterisation and major issues by naraht, but I was writing and editing to late so no time to get it thoroughly betaed or edited a lot.


End file.
